Brushes
by The Daughter of the Night
Summary: Who was she? What kind of strange power did she wield, to have him thinking about her so? A Sango story mainly. Set after the defeat of Naraku. Other important characters include one and only houshi sama and a certain Lord of the Western Lands.


**Ave!**

**I've been toying with the idea of another story for a while, and well, impatience grew to such a level that I decided to start it! 'Of houshis, tajiyas and love' is still on of course, but I veered off it for a while to do this- kind of experiencing a writer's block as far as that one is concerned!**

**Anyway, this is another Sango centric story, like my earlier 'unfinished business', but it's not an InuSan. It contains another pairing that I've grown to love on this site, but Lord knows where the twists and turns of my imagination will take it…**

**Anyway, I won't really ramble on now. Please do read and leave me your valuable feedback! **

He really didn't know where it came from.

He could swear that there had been no warning when the thoughts first started encroaching upon his cold, emotionless form.

He would look at her, her and her silly companions, and scoff inside his head. What idiots! What a band of fools! How could he expect anything less of his half breed brother than for him to hang around with a bunch of rag tag misfits?

But then he realized he was beginning to think of that silly gang as not so much his brother's inevitable retinue, an unwanted interference in his battles with him, but as _her_ group, the group that always came along with _her_, the group that she seemed indivisible from.

Her.

His lip curled in a sneer when her image arose in his mind, and his hand moved instinctively to the sword that hung at his waist. How did she manage to do this to him? How did she manage to fill his thoughts, his dreams, his fantasies by doing absolutely nothing but existing? What dark magic did the woman wield?

How did she do it, being a mere human?

A human…

A human!

He, the great daiyoukai of the Western Lands, upset over a human!

His face stiffened. Upset? Of course he was not upset. He was merely a little miffed. No human could upset him, surely not. He would be the laughingstock of youkai kind if such a rumour got out. Even Jaken, sycophantic little toad that he was, would look askance upon his master. And his father…

That huge skeleton was probably shaking itself apart in laughter even now.

He wiped a hand across his brow. There was no sweat, there never was, it was just an action. Something that he did when he wished to cleanse his mind of thoughts of her. It never succeeded.

Because no matter what he did, she was always there, just lurking out of sight, waiting to spring upon him in his dreams, to snatch away the night from his control and wind it around her callused fingertips, smiling a secretive little smile that taunted the youkai lord and told him that she knew perfectly well that he was completely under her spell.

How on earth did she do it?

'Who are you?' he breathed. The wind picked up his whisper and tossed it away; it vanished into the night air, almost as though he had never spoken it.

But it still lingered within the recesses of his mind. Along with her waiting smile.

Who was she?

'Hiraikotsu!'

The lopped off demon head fell to the ground with a crash. Sango put her hand up and snatched the whirring boomerang from the air as it came pelting back towards her. Steadying herself on her feet again, she looked towards her companion.

'Houshi sama! It's headed your way!'

Miroku's usually calm face was locked in a grimace of concentration as he sprang away from the tentacle that had launched itself towards him. Deftly springing back, he raised his staff and whacked the offending appendage hard, and with a shriek, it withdrew.

'You'd think that chopping off its head would have killed it…' he muttered, as he took in the sight of the decaptitaed demon thrashing its tentacles around. 'As far as I can see, all that's changed is that it's even stupider than before.'

'Houshi sama, now's not really the time for smart comments.' Sango swung her katana at a tentacle. 'Please focus on the situation at hand.'

'I was merely making an observation.' Miroku whipped a couple of sutras from the sleeve of his blue robe and launched towards the demon again. 'Merely an observation my dear Sango.'

The huge monster screamed in agony as Sango's boomerang hit and removed three of its slimy tentacles. That was the diversion Miroku needed. With a flying jump he smacked the papers down atop the centre of the demon's body (or, as far as he could judge the centre to be, with nothing but a mass of writhing limbs to guide him) and in a burst of blueish light and a final howl, the demon disappeared.

'Whew, that was a toughie, I hate to admit.' He wiped the sweat off his brow and looked at the demon slayer. 'They seem to be getting more and more aggressive these days.'

Sango was rubbing Hiraikotsu down with a spare cloth she kept on her person for the express purpose, but when she heard Miroku's words, she looked at him with a thoughtful frown. 'Hai. I've noticed it too. Whatever the reason is, it can't be good for us.'

'One hopes that Inuyasha does not face the same problem.' Miroku shook his head. 'Though I doubt he would appreciate me expressing any misgivings about his ability to deal with demons.'

'I don't think he would, at that.' Sango laughed and straightened up, tucking the cloth into her sword belt. She slung the hiraikotsu over her shoulder, fastening the straps securely. 'Do we move on?'

Miroku appraised her. 'Why aren't you wearing that outer kimono?'

'I think I'd rather be prepared just in case…' the slayer trailed off, a meaningful look in her big brown eyes. 'There's still a long way to Kaede's village yet.'

Nodding, the houshi moved closer to her, an impish glint in his eye. 'Yes, that's true. A long way to go. And a long time before they're expecting us…' his hand moved suggestively towards her.

Sango stepped away deftly. 'Not now houshi sama.' She said dryly, and walked ahead.

'Damn it all.' Miroku followed after her with a rueful smile. She knew him too damn well.

**So what thoughts? Please review! Thank you!**


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